Merry Christmas 2011

We hope everyone is having a Goofy Christmas this year! Needless to say it has been a while, but I will do a quick update, can't guarantee it will include everything that has happened since my last post, which was over a year ago, sheesh, where does the time go? Well the cute little infant that was in my last post has grown tremendously and if I ever loose track of where he is at during the day, I usually find him looking something like this:



All though he is a handful at times, he seems to always make us smile. If you haven't guessed by now, we had an exciting trip to Disneyland recently. It was a pre-Christmas vacation, due to us having to stay close to the home front for Blake to work during the holidays. We had so much fun.



Surprisingly, Maya enjoyed all of the 'big kid' rides and was disappointed when she was denied access to rides with taller height admittance like Indiana Jones and California Screemin' Desire'e loved seeing all of the Princess's and Characters while Zeke seemed to enjoy the Whinnie the Pooh ride so much we ended up going on it 3 times in a row, good thing Grandma Dickson was there to take hime on 2 of the 3.



The Castle was so pretty at night with all of the Christmas lights covering it. And there were even some nights that it snowed on Main Street U.S.A.





All though the Disneyland castle was pretty, this castle was my favorite one to visit.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas, with love~
the Holman Party of Five

Ezekiel Bry Holman

Introducing the newest addition to the Royal family.....Ezekiel Bry Holman. Needless to say the title of our blog will be changing shortly. He was born Monday morning, 10-4-10, at 9:30am. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 inches long. So far things are going well for both Mom and baby. The big sisters are excited to have the little one in the house and Dad is happy to have his boy. Mom is overwhelmed with joy, and is really excited to sleep on her stomach once again :).


As for the labor and delivery story.....Sunday morning I was feeling a little 'crampy' and sort of confused as to what to think of it. We had been watching Conference and during it I kept getting up to go to the bathroom, even though I didn't really have to go. Internally I thought maybe I should go to the hospital, but at the same time I really wanted to hear the Prophet speak first. I decided to just wait it out, and called my mom for advice. She told me I was in labor and that I needed to get things ready to go, no rush, but that this was all the signs of true labor. So, while Blake enjoyed a pot-luck lunch at the church I cleaned up a bit, and arranged for the girls to stay with Isabel and packed our bags for the hospital. The crampy feelings weren't going away, but were getting worse and worse. We made it to the hospital around 4:30pm and I was dilated to a 3, and having steady contractions every 5-7 minutes. We waited an hour to see if I would dilate more and sure enough I did to a 4, then the doctor wanted me to wait an hour longer before completely admitting me. By the time I made it to the delivery room I was a 5 and 70%. Shortly after getting there I received my epidural and continued to dilate to a 6 and 80%. This is where I stayed ALL night long! The epidural basically stopped my labor, I was afraid that would happen. Luckily I didn't feel any pain through the night, but didn't get much sleep either. Around 6am the doctor came and broke my water and gave me some pit to get things going again. Finally, by 9:20am I was a 10 and ready to push. The doctor told the nurses to let me push a while and then give him a call for delivery. I pushed half way through one contraction and the nurse told me to stop, and wait for the doctor. It was so hard not to push while I waited for him to come, and when he showed up I did two pushes and he was out...it went pretty fast, I think I shocked my doctor. All in all things went well, just seemed like I was in labor forever. Now we are home and adjusting to being a family of 5.




While at the hospital the girls came to visit and they thought it would be a good idea to do my hair. The night before, Desire'e asked my mom why I wasn't dressed. She told my mom that it was silly and that I needed to get dressed. I guess she thought that by doing my hair that would help me get ready for the day :).

Maya turned 5....

...on Monday, August 30th. We did the family tradition with her as well, having presents with just us at home, but last Friday she had a friend Tea-Party. I think I had just as much fun getting ready and hosting the party as she did during the party. Goodwill was definitely good to us and supplied us with all the party accessories, including the tea-cups and tea-pot (I think this was a sweet simple blessing from above that made me smile). The boys got to choose a tie to wear when they first arrived, while the girls chose a scarf and a necklace. Next, they decorated their party visors with stickers and markers. Then we played musical tea-cups, a rendition of musical-chairs. Then it was time for the tea party. The specialty tea that was served was sparkling apple juice (apple juice mixed with 7-up). I think the kids all thought it was some exotic drink, they all loved it :). Bagel bites, grapes, carrots, marshmallows, cucumbers, and animal crackers were served with the tea, and Maya blew out her candles on 5 mini-cupcakes at the end of the tea-party. After, this was over we played toss the tea-bag into the tea-pot, a rendition of a bean-bag toss game, and then she opened presents. All in all it turned out pretty well. Below is a video Blake took, please excuse the purple whale waddling around, if I could help it I would not be in any pictures, but that's all right.

She knew about these boots before hand, but she was happy to get them on her birthday.






At school she got pretty spoiled as well. She wore a crown and sat in the birthday seat in front of the class. When we picked her up we had the car decorated, what can I say....she's a princess :).

Blake turned 33...

..just this last Sunday, August 29th. We decided to celebrate the day before by having a B.B.Q at the park with some friends. It was a fun gathering, I think Blake enjoyed it. Being with friends and eating meat is always a gift to him :).

Desire'e turned 3...

... a couple months ago, but I am just now getting caught up with all of the birthdays we have had in the last few months. Desire'e's was first, June 12th, to be exact. We did the normal tradition of having our family presents and cake at home with her, and then Grandma Dickson's gift was treating her to a friend party at a place called Monkey Joe's. If you live in the Middle TN vicinity and you have little one's you are probably very familiar with this fun place for kids. It is an indoor play-place for kids aged 2-12 that is filled with many different jump houses . They all love it, and Desire'e was in heaven for her entire party. Also, her favorite gift was the vaccum. Right after she opened it she repeatedly told us that, 'this vaccum was kind of hers,' I think that was her way of saying this vaccum wasn't for us adults to use, it was hers.

Mother's Group Annual Fire Station Visit

Desire'e has had a difficult time saying goodbye to Maya every morning to come home with just Mommy, so this play group field trip was such a treat for her. She was so happy to be with all of her friends from church at the fire station. That night at the dinner table Maya shared her day with all of us and Desire'e was excited to share her day with Maya as well. I think it is only a matter of time before she gets used to being with just me during the day. Only for a little while though, cause pretty soon little Ezekiel will be here.




Pictured from left to right: Jeffery Bell, Lilia Rose, Aiden Davis, Desire'e Holman, Mia Newman, Dallin Wayement, and Benson Traylor. Other little ones not in the picture that were present: Zachery Newman and Lucas Traylor.

Maya's First Day of Kindergarten

Wow, can I just say I am tired? I have been so busy getting Maya ready for school, mentally, physically and emotionally that I have forgotten that I needed to get myself ready for this big change as well. No more calm lazy mornings for me, its up and go go go every day. I think I may be used to it in a few weeks, but as for right now I am exhausted. It is a good tired feeling though, just need to get used to it.

Maya has had a good first week. Mornings are sometimes difficult for her to get up and out of the door...who knows where she get's that from ;), but everyday she has come home with fun things to tell me about her day.






It was so humid the morning of her first day that I couldn't keep the lens clear to get a good picture.


Desire'e had to lay her clothes out the night before just like Maya, and she needed to wear a backpack to school to drop her off. As you can see, her hair wasn't on my list of priorities that morning :).


One day she decided that she really wanted to try and ride the bus home. I was so nervous about letting her do this, but I didn't want to discourage her from being brave. Blake, Desire'e and I anxiously waited for her at the stop in front of our complex with the camera ready... when she showed up she did not have a smile on her face. She jumped into her daddy's arms squeezing him and started to cry. My heart melted :(. I felt so bad. The bus driver was very kind and said that Maya kept telling her she was going the wrong way, so she called her teacher to make sure she had the right address and sure enough she did. I asked Maya later that evening why she was afraid and she explained that the bus passed by the apartment and didn't stop. She didn't understand that the buss needed to stop for the other kids and that it would stop at her house on the way back. Poor Maya, she was just confused...I think I would have been afraid too. Needless to say, she won't be riding the bus again for quite a while. Her teacher assured her the next day that she was very brave to even want to try, and that maybe someday she can try again when she is ready. I still feel guilty about it, maybe I should have known better and not aloud her to go, I don't know, all apart of learning I guess.